From SGPC stage, Rode criticises SAD for ‘dumping Panthic cause’
RODE IS NEPHEW OF SLAIN MILITANT PREACHER JARNAIL SINGH BHINDRANWALE; HE WAS AKAL TAKHT JATHEDAR WHEN MILITANCY WAS AT PEAK
AMRITSAR: Former Akal Takht jathedar Jasbir Singh Rode on Saturday sent the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) into a tizzy when he used its platform on the Golden Temple premises to make a political statement. In a veiled attack, he flayed the Shiromani Akal Dal (SAD) for “dumping” the panthic agenda, during the daily discourse that is aired live on a Punjabi channel.
Rode, who is the nephew of slain militant preacher Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, was the Akal Takht jathedar when the militancy was at its peak in Punjab. “This is our bad luck that the Sikhs have abandoned their distinctiveness. Akali word was taken from the historical slogan ‘Akal Purakh ki fauj’. This word has been excluded. Now, they say that we have become Punjabi... the party has become Punjabi,” he said.
“Will you be able to launch an agitation today as you did in the past? Today, we are being oppressed. Sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib is being committed,” he said in an indirect reference to the Akali Dal. “On July 4, 1955, police and military entered Darbar Sahib complex with shoes. They used arms and killed many Sikhs. Bhim Sen Sachar was Punjab’s chief minister, while Jawaharlal Nehru was the prime minister,” he said.
Notably, his address did not catch the attention of even the intelligence agencies officials who were camping at Golden Temple in the wake of Khalistan ideologue Gurpatwant Singh Pannu-led Sikhs For Justice (SFJ)’s call for starting registration for ‘Referendum 2020’. Now, his address is being linked to the campaign being run by Pannu, who was declared a terrorist by the Union government recently.